Legends Advance to WS, Look to Defend Title

The BYOF Champion Lonesome Dove Legends defeated the Granbury Engineers 4 games to 1 in the NLCS, advancing to their second straight BYOF World Series. Congrats to Alan on winning and Andrew on an amazing season. This was Andrew's first BYOF postseason.

Minnesota Advances to World Series, Sweeps ALCS

Minnesota has advanced to their first BYOF World Series. They swept Winnipeg in four games. Congrats to Steve on winning the AL Pennant. Congratulations to Nghia on another great season.

Winnipeg upsets Beartooth in the ALDS, Wins in 7

Winnipeg upset Beartooth in a classic seven game series.

In game 7 Winnipeg took a 2-0 lead on a solo-shot in the 3rd and a RBI single in the 9th off the bat of Greg Zaun. In the bottom of the 9th Milton Bradley hit a solo shot, Beartooth loaded the bases and Cody Ross grounded out to 3B to end the game.

Tim Wakefield was named MVP. He was 1-1 and had a 1.08 ERA with a 403 opponent OPS.
10/13/2009 @BEA Beartooth 1-0 W:Cook L:Wakefield SV:Howell
10/14/2009 @BEA Beartooth 12-2 W:Buehrle L:Moyer
10/16/2009 @WIN Winnipeg 10-9 W:Wheeler L:Howell
10/17/2009 @WIN Winnipeg 8-2 W:Lannan L:Lohse
10/18/2009 @WIN Winnipeg 3-2 W:Wakefield L:Cook SV:Wheeler
10/20/2009 @BEA Beartooth 5-2 (11) W:Howell L:Wheeler
10/21/2009 @BEA Winnipeg 2-1 W:Wellemeyer L:Greinke SV:Wheeler

Congratultions to Nghia on advancing to the ALCS and Mike on another fantastic season.

2009 BYOF Awards, The Winners Are...

Here are the winners of the 2009 BYOF Awards.

http://byofonline.com/league/2009/awards/

ALDS Write-Up, Minnesota vs Jersey

The Minnesota Nice swept the Jersey Damage, Inc. in four games to advance to the AL championship series. The Nice pitching shut down the Damage, limited them to a total of 7 runs and a composite .165/.236/.276 line.

I’ll go with Joe “waiver bait” Inglett as the series MVP. He did a good job all series, and delivered key hits in games two and four.

Game 1 – Minnesota (Beckett) @ Jersey (Burnett)

Jersey gets to Josh Beckett early, as Bobby Abreu leads off with a walk, and Chipper brings him around with a 2-out homer. A. J. Burnett dominates, with 10 strikeouts through 4 innings. He gives up a leadoff double to Ryan Sweeney in the 3rd, then strikes out the next 3 hitters.

Ramon Santiago finally puts Minnesota on the board with a one-out homer in the 5th. Two batters later Jim Edmonds blasts another one, tying the game.

Burnett shows signs of tiring with a man on first and two outs in the 6th. He hits Joe Inglett with a pitch, then throws a wild pitch to put two runners in scoring position. Ryan Sweeney cashes in both runs with a single to make it 4-2 Minnesota.

Chipper hits another homer in the bottom of the 6th, but Nick Johnson restores the two run lead with a double in the 7th. Scott Downs and Joey Devine finish it for Beckett and the Nice opens the series with a 5-3 win.

Minnesota 1 Jersey 0

Game 2 – Minnesota (Mussina) @ Jersey (Haren)

Mussina struggles early, giving up six singles and a walk in the first 4 innings. Somehow he doesn’t give up a run.

Meanwhile Haren is brilliant, no-hitting the Nice through 6. Sweeney breaks it up with a leadoff single in the 7th, but he’s erased on a double play.

Jose Arredondo takes over for Mussina in the 7th, and sets down the Damage 1-2-3. James Loney opens the Nice 8th with a single, but Haren gets the next two hitters on a popup and a strikeout. With two outs Joe Inglett becomes the hero, bringing Loney around with a triple and putting the Nice up 1-0.

Arredondo cruises through the 8th, and Devine ends it with flair, picking Chris Dickerson off first for the final out.

Minnesota 2 Jersey 0

Game 3 – Jersey (Zambrano) @ Minnesota (Marcum)

Minnesota leadoff hitter David Wright opens with a solo shot off Zambrano. Marcum makes that run stand until the 4th, when Vernon Wells and Curtis Granderson open with singles, followed by Chipper’s run scoring double. Marcum settles down but a sac fly by Garrett Atkins puts Jersey up 2-1.

The Nice respond in the bottom of the inning. Edmonds and Jayson Werth walk, and both come around on singles by Loney and Chris Iannetta. A two-run homer by Manny Ramirez makes it 5-2 Minnesota after 5.

Marcum gives up a leadoff walk in the 5th, then retires the next 18 hitters in a row to finish a complete game 6-2 victory.

Minnesota 3 Jersey 0

Game 4 – Jersey (Cain) @ Minnesota (Volstad)

Jersey starts game 4 almost exactly like game 1. Abreu opens with a walk, and this time Dickerson brings them both around with the homer.

Minnesota comes roaring back in the bottom of the 2nd. Loney leads off with a homer, Henry Blanco singles, Inglett singles, Troy Tulowitzki rips a line drive – it’s caught by Mark Ellis, he steps on 2nd, throws to Jason Giambi at 1st, it’s a triple play!

Cain takes advantage of that play and just starts cruising through the Nice lineup inning after inning. Meanwhile Volstad is struggling with his control, and is pulled after consecutive walks with one out in the 5th. Frank Francisco relieves him and gets out of that inning and the next two.

A two-out double in the 8th by Ramirez brings in Takashi Saito for Cain, and he strikes out Edmonds to send the Damage to the 9th with a 2-1 lead.

Saito strikes out Werth and pinch hitter Nick Johnson to start the bottom of the 9th, but gives up a double to Iannetta followed by a game-tying double to Inglett. He intentionally walks the switch-hitting Santiago, then yields to Kerry Wood who will face Wright. Wright rips a double to left, winning the game and the series for Minnesota.

Minnesota 4 Jersey 0

Granbury Wins NLDS, Beats Houston in 6

 This evening in the National League playoffs, the Engineers (wild-card) defeated the Oil Barons (Eastern division champs) 4 games to 2.

Game 1 - Engineers, 3 at Oil Barons, 4

The first game of the series featured two aces who struck nearly every one out. CC Sabathia struck out 9 in six innings, while Tim Lincecum struck out 8 in 6 innings. The Engineers struck first in the top of the first on an RBI infield single by Fernando Tatis that scored Oscar Salazar. The Oil Barons got the run back in the bottom of the second when Chris Davis hit a bomb to deep right field. Both pitchers were money until the 6th when the Engineers scored their second run on a Salazar solo shot. The Oil Barons quickly answered with two of their own in the 6th. Juan Rivera hit a solo shot to knot the game up and then Kapler stroked a two out double down the third base line to score Mauer from first. Each team added another run, but Joe Nathan (S 1) closed the door despite allowing a lead off single and stolen base to Kaz Matsui.

Game 2 - Engineers, 12 at Oil Barons, 5
Looking to quickly knock any thoughts of a home series split out of th emind of the Engineers, the Oil Barons scored in the bottom of the first on a Ryan Braun sac fly. The resilient Engineers quickly got the run back off of Cliff Lee in the 2nd when Matsui singled, stole second, and scored on a two-out single by Andre Ethier. Matsui would end up stealing 5 bases during the series. The Engineers added 3 more runs in the 4th due in large part to two errors by the Oil Baron defense. The Oil Barons, however, scored two of their own runs in the 4th to close the gap. The game got a bit out of hand after the 4th. The Engineers ended up knocking out 18 hits.

Game 3 - Oil Barons, 4 at Engineers, 6

After seizing home field advantage, the Engineers moved to the friendly confines of Rangers Ballpark. The Engineers would win this game by scoring 6 runs off of Brandon Webb in the bottom of the 5th inning, helped again by two errors in the inning by the Oil Baron defense. The Oil Barons scored their runs in pairs. They notched two in the third off of a Webb double that scored Peralta from first and found Webb standing on third after a throwing error by Matsui. Webb would score on an infield grounder. Carlos Pena made things interesting in the ninth when he hit a 2-out two run homer off of one of the Ramon Ramirezes. After allowing another single, Bruney finally got the last out on a Stephen Drew ground ball fielders choice\

Game 4 - Oil Barons, 5 at Engineers 0
This game was all Ricky Nolasco and the awesome Oil Baron bullpen. Nolasco fired 5.2 innings of shutout ball, striking out 6 and allowing only 3 hits. Wagner, Lidge, Gregg, and Nathan finished the game off with 3.1 innings of 10 up, 10 down perfection. Sabathia sucked, allowing four runs in 6.2 innings, including 2 solo homers to Ian Kinsler and another solo homer to Peralta.

Game 5 - Oil Barons, 3 at Engineers 4 (10 innings)
The only extra innings game of the series was a good one. Lincecum struggled with his control, but still managed to throw six innings of 3-run ball despite 5-walks and 6-hits (plus 7 more K's). Leading 3-2 in the top of the 9th, the Engineers brought in the Wild-Card round MVP, Brian Bruney. After getting Peralta to quickly ground out, Bruney then allowed a single to Drew. Apparently a bit rattled, Bruney then waled Sizemore, even managing to throw a wild pitch on the 4th ball that allowed Drew and Sizemore to advance to 3rd and 2nd with only one out. Kapler came on as a pinch hitter, but rather than walk him to load the bases, the Engineers manager decided to pitch to him and brought the infield in. However, on a 1-1 pitch, Kapler managed to hit a medium fly ball to Rios in right field, that was just far enough for Drew to sucessfully challege the EX arm of Rios and tie the game. Bruney ended the inning by striking out Kinsler, and would end up picking up the win when Eric Hinske led off the bottom of the 10th with a solo shot off of Billy Wagner.

Game 6 - Engineers, 5 at Oil Barons 2

Back in Yankee Stadium, Sanchez quickly made himself comfortable, not allowing a hit until the fourth inning when Braun doubled and Guerrero brought him home on a two-run shot to left-center. The Engineers somehow managed to score 5 runs without the help of any errors by the Oil Barons or any homeruns to defeat Lee for the second time and end the series.

Because Ethier, Rios, and Matsui all put of similar numbers, the Engineers will continue their pitching theme and name Jonathan Sanchez the MVP of the series. In his two starts, Sanchez was 2-0, 2.19 ERA. He threw 12.1 innings, allowing only 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 13.

Legends Defeat Fairfax 4-2 in NLDS

Thanks to Alan for the writeup

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The NL Division Series boiled down to Lonesome Dove’s starting pitchers against Fairfax’s powerful lineup. And for almost 4 games the Pilots seemed to be running away with it. But up two games to one and two outs away from the their third win, Chad Qualls couldn’t hold a late lead for Fairfax in game 4. The Legends rallied to win that game and won in six.

Albert Pujols shook off a mildly disappointing regular season to hit .600 with a .800 slugging percentage. At one point, he had eight hits in a row at one point.

In game 1, Gil Meche outpitched Roy Halladay in the opener as Fairfax won 2-1. Chase Utley’s RBI in the 4th broke the goose egg. But Ryan Howard tied it with a single in the sixth. Then Kevin Youkilis took Brian Fuentes deep to cap the scoring in the 9th. Qualls worked a scoreless 9th for a tense save.

Game 2 was far closer than the 9-3 final would indicate. Greg Smith and Cole Hamels locked into a tight pitcher’s duel and left the game with a the Pilots up 2-1 in the seventh. But in the home 8th Ryan Theriot threw away a sure double play ball that would have ended the inning. Instead, a hit batsman and a strikeout led to a two out bases loaded situation. Chris Denorfia drew a walk off Justin Miller to tie the game. Then Daniel Murphy cleared the bases with a double down the line. When the dust settled, the Legends had scored eight gift runs to pull out the win.

In game 3, Lonesome Dove jumped out to a 3-0 win thru three innings off Bronson Arroyo. But Ichiro Suzuki slammed a two run homer off Johan Santana in the third. Youkilis slammed his 2nd homer of the series to tie it in the 4th. In the bottom of the 7th, Ichiro struck again. This time his two out liner to centerfield hit the turf about a half second before Carlos Beltran could snag it. That plated the deciding run, as Jonathan Broxton and Will Ohman threw two scoreless frames.

Game 4 seemed another road nightmare for the Legends. Lonesome Dove picked up an early 2-1 lead on a single by Pujols and an inning later, a Jose Guillen solo homer. Like clockwork though, the Pilots tied the game and pulled ahead in the mid innings. Carlos Quentin hit a two run blast to make it 3-2 in the 4th and hit a solo to put his team in front 4-3 in the 6th. In the next inning, Brian Fuentes wiggled out of a tight jam, with runners at 2nd and 3rd with two outs, inducing a pop up that Pujols dove to snag and a hard grounder that Pujols speared to end it. In the 9th, Pujols singled with one out in the 9th off Qualls. Micah Hoffpauir delivered the biggest hit of his BYOF career, a ringing double to the LCF wall. Ryan Doumit followed with a grounder slow enough to score Pujols and knot the game at 4. Francisco Rodriguez threw a scoreless inning in the 9th and saw his offense take over in the 10th. Murphy and Denorfia started the rally with one out singles. An out later, Beltran tripled them both in and scored on Pujols’ sixth hit of the game. Rodriguez made the 7-4 lead stand up and the series was tied after four brutally tight games.

Unlike the others, game 5 featured NO runs thru the first 5 frames as Halladay and Meche again handcuffed the hitters. The in the top of the sixth, Hoffpauir again doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Pujols knocked in the first run with a single, his 8th hit in as many at bats (he had a walk mixed in). Utley’s sac fly scored Hoffpauir for a 2-0 advantage. In the 7th, Edgar Renteria’s single made it 3-0. Halladay and the bully held on for a 3-1 win.

Game 6 was anticlimactic. The teams came back to Lonesome Dove but the off day didn’t give the Pilot pen time to rest enough. Smith wasn’t sharp, giving up four early runs in a very unlikely 2nd inning rally. With two outs and nobody on, Smith walked the bottom of the order and Hamels (yes, the pitcher) laced an RBI double to start the scoring. Renteria then hit a huge homer into the bullpen to cap the uprising. Hamels gave up a solo homer to Brian McCann and a two run shot to Quentin, but the game was never in doubt. Hamels whiffed eight, giving up only five hits and a walk in the 8-3 clincher.

“Our pitchers really stepped up,” said Pujols as he received his MVP trophy. “My stats look good, but if they didn’t throw such a great series, we probably lose this and go home.”

Hamels dodged champagne near his locker as he disagreed. “Don’t listen to Albert,” he said. “We did ok, but without him carrying us we don’t go to the league championship series next week. People didn’t give him credit for his solid regular season, but you saw the real Albert here. He is nails.”

Ron could well have won this series if not for a fluky error in game 4. His team is superb and he deserved better. I want to thank him for playing and being a great sport.

Minnesota Sweeps Jersey in ALDS

Minnesota has advanced to the ALCS, sweeping the AL West Champion Jersey Damage, 4-0.

10/13/2009 @JER MIN 5-3 W-Beckett S-Devine
10/14/2009 @JER MIN 1-0 W-Arredondo S-Devine
10/16/2009 @MIN MIN 6-2 W-Marcum
10/17/2009 @MIN MIN 3-2 W-Arredondo
Note: Minnesota is on a 6-game winning streak.

Congrats to Steve on his victory. Congratulations to Rob another strong season.

AL Wildcard Series Summary

Thanks to Steve (Minnesota) for the write-up.

The Minnesota Nice beat the Alabama Braves four games to one in the inaugural AL wild card matchup.
Outside of an 8-run outburst in game 3 the formidable Alabama lineup failed to put runs on the board, totaling 4 runs in the other four games.

I’ll go with Ryan Sweeney as the series MVP, as his .632 OBP seemed to put him in the middle of every big rally.

Game 1 – Alabama (Harden) @ Minnesota (Mussina)

David Wright starts the series with an error, putting Nate McLouth on. With two outs Mussina (due to his “issues” with good right-handed hitters) is ordered to issue a rare first inning intentional walk to Jason Bay. He strikes out Prince Fielder to end the inning.

No scoring for either team until the bottom of the 5th. Jayson Werth opens with an infield single and steals 2nd with 2 outs. Harden then walks three of the next four hitters, with a Wright infield single in between. So the Nice score two without a hit to the outfield.

The Braves comes right back, doing it the quick way. With two outs Fielder singles, then Aramis Ramirez pulls a blast to left to tie it.

The Nice retake the lead in the bottom of the 6th, on Ryan Sweeney’s bases loaded two-run single. The tough Minnesota bullpen takes over, and Chris Iannetta adds a solo shot to make the final 5-2.

Minnesota 1 Alabama 0

Game 2 – Alabama (Hudson) @ Minnesota (Beckett)

Both starters are on today, though Hudson has to escape a bases loaded jam in the 2nd. A couple of the Alabama big boys (Fielder and Lance Berkman) triple in the 4th to put the Braves on the board. Another triple by James Loney of the Nice ties it in the 6th.

The first two Braves hitters single in the top of the eighth, chasing Beckett. Joey Devine escapes, striking out Berkman with the bases loaded.

Hideki Okajima relieves Hudson in the 9th, and Asdrubal Cabrera greets him with a double. Sweeney bunts him over, and Scott Linebrink takes over for Okajima. Linebrink gets Ramon Santiago to ground out to a pulled in infield, but Wright grounds a two-out single to left to win it for the Nice 2-1.

Minnesota 2 Alabama 0

Game 3 – Minnesota (Marcum) @ Alabama (Oswalt)

This game has a different tone, as both starters struggle from the beginning. Bay opens the scoring for Alabama with a two-run homer in the 1st. Iannetta and McLouth both hit solo shots in the 2nd to make it 3-1. A two-run single by Troy Tulowitzki ties it in the top of the 4th, but the Braves immediately reclaim the two-run lead on a run-scoring triple by Jose Reyes followed by a Nick Markakis single. That brings in Minnesota long reliever Robinson Tejada.

Another triple, this one by Werth in the 5th, makes it 5-4 and brings in John Smoltz for Alabama. He gives up the game-tying single to Cabrera.

Tejada and Smoltz calm things down and the score remains 5-5 until the bottom of the 7th.
Jose Arrendondo comes in for the bottom of the 7th and immediately gives up a walk to Berkman and a home run to Bay. Frank Francisco gives up another Braves run in the 8th, making the final 8-5. Alabama’s bullpen clearly outshone Minnesota’s in this game.

Minnesota 2 Alabama 1

Game 4 – Minnesota (Volstad) @ Alabama (McGowan)

Loney lines a double off McGowan to score Manny Ramirez and put the Nice up in the 1st. A two-run homer by Manny makes it 3-0 in the 3rd.

That’s more than Volstad needs, because if not having to deal with 3 errors by his fielders he wouldn’t have been threatened. He gives way to Scott Downs in the 7th. Alabama threatens in the 8th with men on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs, but Devine comes in to retire pinch hitter Mike Fontenot, and then finishes the 3-0 win with a perfect 9th.

Minnesota 3 Alabama 1

Game 5 – Minnesota (Mussina) @ Alabama (Harden)

Both pitchers start strong, but Minnesota scratches out a run in the 3rd. Sweeney gets to 2nd with no outs, and the next two hitters bring him around with fly balls. Alabama ties it on a Markakis sac-fly in the 5th, following a Reyes triple. Sweeney scores again in the bottom of the 5th, this time on a Wright homer.
Harden makes it to the 9th, where he gives up a run on a Joe Inglett single. Wright drives in another run to make it 5-1.

It turns out that Reyes triple was the only hit Mussina gave up, and a little help from Downs in the 9th closed out the game and the series.

Minnesota 4 Alabama 1

Lebanon and Thunder Bay Get Top Picks

The top four picks for both drafts were selected via a draft lottery this morning. My 4.5 and 2.5 year old pulled the names out of a box.

ML Draft

The ML draft order did not change. Lebanon with the lowest winning percentage got the first pick.

1. Lebanon .278
2. Thunder Bay .284
3. Gettysburg .346
4. Midgard .358

MiL Draft

There were a few surprises with the MiL draft. Thunder Bay got the first pick overall and Midgard jumped up and got the second pick.

1. Thunder Bay .284
2. Midgard .358
3. Lebanon .278
4. Gettysburg .346 

BYOF Postseason History

BYOF postseason history has been added to the website. You will find a HISTORY section on the navigation menu. There are links for the Wildcard Series, Division Series, League Championship Series and the World Series.

This is the link for the World Series.

You can navigate to the other series from there.

NL Wildcard Series Summary

Thanks to Noel (Philly) for writing.

In a tight series, the Granbury Engineers won the NL Wild Card Series 4 games to 1 against the Philly Smackdown in H2H action. The Engineers won all 4 games by 1 run, and hit a backbreaking homer in the late innings in each one. Carlos Marmol, a key trade deadline acquisition by the Smackdown to shore up the bullpen, was absolutely brutal, serving up 3 of those homers. Here's how it all went down.

Bruney was named series MVP, pitching 4 SHO innings and picking up 3 saves.

Game 1: Engineers win 4-3 in 11 innings, leads series 1-0

The series started with the marquee pitching matchup of CC Sabathia for the Engineers versus Jake Peavy of the Smackdown. Sabathia had his good stuff, going 6 1/3 innings and giving up 2 runs. Peavy, on the other hand, did not. After giving up 2 runs in the first, he was pulled in the 4th with the bases loaded. Craig Breslow, who was huge all series except for one critical moment, stuffed that rally. The Smackdown plated one run in the 4th on a Dustin Pedroia home run and then rallied for 2 in the seventh to take a 3-2 lead. Garret Anderson had a key 2 out pinch hit RBI single to give the Smackdown the lead into the 9th. They just needed Marmol to hold the lead and jump out to an early lead in the series, KO'ing the Engineers ace in the process. Marmol had done his job in the 8th, coming in for one out with a runner in scoring position. But in the ninth, he gave up a solo shot to Andre Ethier to tie up the score. The Smackdown then started the 10th with 2nd and 3rd on a single by Matt Holliday and double by Adrian Gonzalez (in hindsight, maybe Holliday should have been sent home against Alex Rios' EX arm but he had already thrown out one guy at home so the Smackdown 3rd base coach was gun-shy). After the Engineers smartly intentionally walked Pedroia to load the bases with no outs, the Smackdown couldn't plate a single run as the next three guys made outs, although Jeff Baker lined to the drawn-in second basemen for the second out. Oscar Salazar led off the 11th for the Engineers with a walk, and pinch runner Felix Pie stole second. After a ground out moved him to 3rd, Eric Hinske hit a sac fly to give the Engineers a 4-3 lead. The Smackdown went down weakly in the bottom of the 11th and the Engineers took game 1.

Game 2: Smackdown win 5-0, series tied 1-1

Justin Duchscherer of the Smackdown pitched 8 stifling innings to give the bullpen a rest and Dustin Pedroia went 3-4 with a triple, his second homer of the series, and 3 ribbies. The Engineers had some chances, but Duch was on his game. Dana Eveland went 5 innings for the Engineers and gave up all 5 runs.
Game 3: Engineers win 6-5, leads series 2-1

With the series tied 1-1, it was on to Engineers' Rangers Ballpark. Neither starting pitcher (Jonathan Sanchez for the Engineers and Jesse Litsch for the Smackdown) distinguished themselves, each giving up 4 runs in less than 6 innings of work. The Smackdown had a 4-1 lead on a 2 run homer by Adrian Gonzalez, but the Engineers cut that to 4-3 in the 4th on a 2-out 2-run single by Russell Martin. After the Engineers tied it up an inning later, the Smackdown manufactured a run in the 7th on a double and two sac flies to go up 5-4. Breslow started the inning but gave up a single to Jeff Clement so he handed the ball reluctantly to Marmol. After getting Fernando Tatis to fly out for the second out of the inning, Marmol again served up a devasting homer, this time a 2-run shot to Rios to give the Engineers a 6-5 lead. In contrast to that pitiful display of relief, the Smackdown did nothing against the Engineers tough relievers in the 8th and 9th innings and the Engineers emerged victorious.

Game 4: Engineers win 2-1, leads series 3-1

In a rematch of the game 1 pitching matchup, both Sabathia and Peavy pitched on 3 days rest. Sabathia was touched for 1 run in 5 2/3 innings. His only blemish was a 2-out run-scoring single to Holliday in the 5th. Peavy was even better, simply brilliant, carrying a no-hitter into the 6th inning. After Alex Cora broke up the no-hitter with a single, Peavy got the next two outs. But Ryan Ludwick smoked a 2-out triple to plate Cora and tie up the game. After Breslow put out a 2nd and 3rd fire in the 7th, he stayed in to pitch the 8th so he could face Ethier for the lefty on lefty matchup. Unfortunately for the Smackdown, that didn't pay off as Ethier hit a tie-breaking solo shot to put the Engineers up 2-1 for the 3rd tieing or tie-breaking late inning Engineers dinger of the series. Despite getting speedster Rajai Davis to second with one out in the top of the ninth, Brian Bruney worked out of that mini-jam to preserve the win for the Engineers.

Game 5: Engineers win 1-0, wins series 4-1

The shell-shocked Smackdown sent Greg Maddux to the mound to try to send the series back to Philly. The Engineers pitcher Eveland on 3 days rest. As one can tell from the score, this was a great pitcher's duel. In his last appearance ever for the Smackdown, the retiring Maddux went 7 innings and only gave up 3 hits with no walks. He was lifted for a pinch hitter in the 8th and the appreciative Engineers home crowd classily gave him a standing ovation. Coco Crisp, the pinch hitter walked and went to second on a single by Holliday. Michael Young killed that rally by grounding into a double play. For some reason, the Smackdown went back to Marmol to try to hold the scoreless tie. He got the first two batters out, but instead of going to Breslow against Russell Branyan for the lefty-on-lefty matchup, the tactically challenged Smackdown manager left Marmol in. Despite being pitched around, Branyan did indeed launch a solo shot to break the tie. Pedroia led off the ninth with a single as the Smackdown tried to launch a last-gasp attempt to keep the series going. Bruney shut the door again and the Engineers pulled out their 4th 1-run win of the series.

Minnesota and Granbury win Inaugural Wild Card Series

Congratulations to Steve (Minnesota) and Andrew (Granbury) on winning their Wildcard Series.

ALWS - Minnesota defeated Alabama 4-1
NLWS - Granbury defeated Philly 4-1

The Division Series matchups will be:

ALDS

Winnipeg vs. Beartooth (home field)
Minnesota (WC) vs. Jersey (home field)

NLDS

Fairfax vs Lonesome Dove (home field)
Granbury (WC) vs Houston (home field)